No Place Like Homer | The Portland Museum of Art

If you’re into stormy Maine shorelines but want to save yourself from the cold, try spending some time at the Portland Museum of Art: home to Winslow Homer’s Weatherbeaten.

(And some of his non-seaside-related works as well. If you’re into that kind of thing.)

I know the issue of photography in art museums is a contested issue–“are you really enjoying artwork if you’re obsessed with snapping the perfect picture?,” some might ask–but I find that a camera can actually help facilitate close looking. Because I can’t just go and stand a hair’s width away from a Homer in order to admire his thick, heavy way of creating wave texture, why not use my zoom function to get up close and personal with the artwork in a whole new way?

What follows is but a sampling of some of the works that caught my eye while we passed through on our way to Acadia National Park: featuring everything from seascapes to strange colonial-era baby portraiture (my two favorite art styles, obviously). Which ones would catch your eye on a gallery wall?